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An evening of songs from across the United States, for inspiration and support of voting rights. Presented in collaboration with FCB's UU The Vote.

LAURA BETH COUCH, lauded by The Boston Musical Intelligencer for singing with “deep pathos” and “radiant affection,” is a mezzo-soprano living in Boston. She has greatly enjoyed singing at the First Church in Belmont, Unitarian Universalist for over a year and a half. She earned her Performance Diploma from Boston University where she performed Julia Child in Bon Appétit, Dorothée in Cendrillon, Alice 2 in Alice Tierney, and Friedrich Bhaer in Little Women. She also earned her M.M. in Voice Performance from Shenandoah University and her B.M. in Music Education from Rutgers University. Laura just returned from performing at the Bay View Music Festival in Northern Michigan for a second summer in a row. At Bay View, she performed the roles of La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi, La Zelatrice in Suor Angelica, Tisbe in La Cenerentola, and Babette in Beauty and the Beast. In addition to opera, Laura has been the mezzo-soprano soloist for numerous concerts across the country and in the Boston area. These include the First Church’s Major Music Series Concerts of Bononcini’s Stabat Mater and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, along with Fanny Hensel’s Lobegesang, Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, Coronation Mass, Regina coeli, and Marianna Martines’s Dixit Dominus. Coming up at First Church, she will be performing Bach’s Magnificat. Laura is also a dedicated and passionate music teacher of over 10 years. Most recently, she taught voice at Boston University to undergraduate non-music majors, and currently teaches music lessons at Wellan Montessori School.

MIKAYLA ROGERS holds a doctorate degree from Florida State University, studying with Valerie Trujillo and Dr. Timothy Hoekman. Her research centers around the art songs of American composer Judith Cloud. Mikayla’s desire to perform and learn in different settings has taken her to several summer festivals, including Music in the Marche in Mondavio, Italy, and the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Austria. In the summer of 2023, she participated in Source Song Festival in Minneapolis, working with the world’s leading collaborative pianists and premiering an art song by composer Hannah Cai Sobel. Her most recent engagements include playing for two Rossini operas (Il barbiere di Siviglia, La Cenerentola) as a harpsichordist and rehearsal pianist for the Florida State University Opera and Bay View Music Festival in Michigan. Mikayla received her Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance at Northern Arizona University under the instruction of Dr. Frank Scott and her Master’s in Piano Accompanying at Florida State University under Dr. Timothy Hoekman. She is currently on the faculty at Binghamton University, NY as a vocal coach.